International schools

Munich, Bavarian, and St. George's international schools

There are only two international secondary schools in Munich that teach in English and are open to all children. These are the Munich International School (MIS) and the Bavarian International School (BIS). They both follow the same International Baccalauréat curriculum. A third international school, St. George's, for Munich will open in September this year.

The existing schools (BIS and MIS) have charity status and are "owned" by their respective Associations. The Associations are made up of the fee paying parents of the school. The Association vote in, from the parent community, a Board of Directors/Trustees and their role is to ensure the financial future of the school. There is no link financially or organisationally between the two schools. However, MIS was asked by the Bavarian Government to assist in the setting up of BIS. That connection ended many years ago and there is, currently, no link between the two schools.

BIS and MIS offer all three IB authorized programmes - Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and the IB Diploma programme. Both are accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Both have excellent results in the IB Diploma - both schools score consistently above world average in all subject areas and both have a pass rate that far exceeds the world average as well. There are really only two major differences: 1. Location; 2. Size - BIS is now over 900 students but still smaller in size to MIS.

St George’s offering in Munich is currently unknown, however they educate around 1600 pupils across three schools in Germany; their examination results are also excellent. Information regarding their examination results can be found on their website also: www.stgeorgesschool.de

But first you should consider which school best meets the needs of you children. Both MIS and BIS schools run an extensive private bus network, it is relatively simple to send children to either school. There is no information on the St. George’s website regarding bus networks however, it is situated next to Luitpoldpark and directly opposite a U3 tram station (Petuerelring) therefore, quite easy to get to by public transport.

If you are moving to Munich then make sure that you don't choose to live too far in the east as both international schools are quite far away from there. That said, children from the US community in Garmisch commute daily to MIS.

European School of Munich

There's also the European School of Munich but that is pimarily only open to the children of European Patent Office employees. About 60% of the total number of students' parents work at the EPO. There are also lots of students whose parents work for NETMA (Nato), BMW, Panavia, Intel or the European Space Observatory (ESO). The problem is just that there are too many students and a serious lack of space which is why, as of 2005, they are only taking new students whose parents work at the European Patent Office or NETMA, as they have some sort of contract with the school. They are currently constructing two new buildings, so the situtation might change in one or two years, say around 2006/7.

Preschools and kindergartens

American Military School in Bad Aibling

There is secondary school near Holzkirchen, south of Munich, which teaches some subjects in English. There are quite a few Americans living out there - military. This is the Bad Aibling American School. The Bad Aibling military station closed in 2003. The school was only for the children of military personnel and Department of Defense employees. It's not clear if the school is still open - probably not.